University Professor Jagadish Shukla to Retire After Climate Science Research and Academic at George Mason
Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences University Professor Jagadish Shukla will retire this year after an esteemed career in climate science and education. The College of Science recently held an event in his honor, with more than 100 individuals gathering to celebrate the indelible mark he’s left at George Mason and in the field of climate science.
Considered a trailblazer in the George Mason community, he joined the university in 1994 where he founded the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences and established the Climate Dynamics PhD program, the first of its kind in the country. The program has graduated more than 60 PhDs. His impact spans the globe, from modernizing India’s weather enterprise to working with numerous national and international research programs and serving as lead author of the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change that shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Vice President Al Gore. As a testament to his impact, he received the International Meteorological Organization Prize in 2008, the fields highest honor.
“The planet is better off today because of his efforts,” said George Mason President Gregory Washington at the recent celebration.
In 1984, Shukla co-founded the Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies (COLA), then at the University of Maryland, and made it an official center in George Mason’s College of Science in 2014. Since establishing COLA, the team received grant funds totaling more than $49 million, providing support for about 75 PhD students. This funding played a key role in George Mason’s designation as a Research 1 institution in 2016, a distinction the university carries to this day.
College of Science Dean Cody W. Edwards said “Shukla is revered as a patriarch in our college and, indeed, around the world. He leads by example, with a relentless work ethic surpassed only by his generosity of spirit.”
In 2000 he and his wife, Anastasia, founded Gandhi College in his home village of Mirdha to provide access to education for those in rural regions, particularly women and poorer families. In 2020, they also established the Jagadish and Anastasia Shukla AOES Fellowship Endowment to support graduate students pursuing their PhD in climate dynamics. It is among the largest philanthropic commitments ever made by a Mason faculty member.
“Pursuit of happiness has many pathways,” said Shukla on his philanthropic efforts. “Giving back the gift of education, empowerment, and opportunity to the next generation of students is perhaps one of the noblest. I have been part of this vibrant George Mason science community for three decades and see the impact such support can provide for our students, our faculty, and this important scientific research and knowledge acquisition.”
Growing up in a village without roads or electricity, Shukla received his primary education under a banyan tree, walked three miles barefoot to attend middle school, and studied math, economics and Sanskrit in high school because no high school near his village had science education. After high school, he excelled in the sciences, eventually attending Banaras Hindu University and earning a bachelor’s and master’s degree in geophysics. He later worked at the Institute of Tropical Meteorology where he wrote a paper challenging the work of one of the most renowned meteorologists of the day—Jule Charney. Not only did he meet Charney as a result of his paper but gained a mentor while earning a Doctor of Science under him at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Shukla recently published his memoir titled A Billion Butterflies: A Life in Climate and Chaos Theory describing his life and his research which showed that in spite of the one to two week limit of weather prediction due to the butterfly effect, it is possible to predict seasonal climate variations, which are now being done routinely saving lives and property
If you would like to support the Jagadish and Anastasia Shukla AOES Fellowship Endowment, please consider making a donation.
Check out Shukla’s recent appearance on the Science Friday podcast.
